CompaniesMay 31 2016

Fairstone strikes deal with Lancashire advice firm

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Fairstone strikes deal with Lancashire advice firm

Adviser consolidator Fairstone Group has bought a minority stake in a Lancashire advice firm, bringing in total revenue of £1.6m and funds under management of around £160m.

Fairstone has acquired a minority stake in McParland and Partners with a view to buying the business outright at a later stage.

Under the terms of the deal, 10 advisers and 13 support staff will join the group.

Lee Hartley, chief executive of Fairstone, called the adviser firm an “ideal fit” culturally and in its approach to looking after clients.

“[McParland and Partners’] focus on quality and superior service is exactly what we are looking for as a group and we will seek to enhance that further by providing marketing, client acquisition and financial support to enable them to grow further,” he said.

“For some time we have actively sought companies to join us and it is now encouraging to see quality advisory businesses approaching us to be a part of our growing national brand. ”

McParland & Partners has more than 2,000 clients and is based in Nelson, Lancashire, with satellite offices in Manchester and Sheffield.

Principal Sean McParland said Fairstone’s chartered status made the deal a very easy choice.

“The strength of Fairstone’s technology platform and the significant add-on services which are now available to us, means that we can spend more of our time on what really matters – providing the very best financial advice to our clients.

“By adopting Fairstone’s brand we can cement our strong position locally, and realise our ambitious development plans.”

Last month Fairstone received a £25m injection of capital from private equity firm Synova Capital, which has become the lead investor in the company.

In January Mr Hartley told FTAdviser he anticipated the company would be making between eight and 10 new acquisitions during 2016.

Fairstone was founded in Newcastle in 2008 and has grown to include 260 financial advisers throughout the UK, servicing 25,000 private clients with £5.8bn of funds under advice.